Will Sherlock need a P.I. License?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Private investigators are not currently licensed in the UK.  However, as of sometime in 2014, new regulations from the Security Industry Authority will require specialized training and a background check.

 

There are a few exemptions (e.g., for journalists), but these do not include "consulting detectives."  Besides, Sherlock often takes private cases (e.g., his work for the Shad Sanderson Bank and for Henry Knight).

 

It's fortunate that the series got its start during the unregulated era, when John could simply move in and start investigating alongside Sherlock.  Series 3 has presumably come in just under the wire.  But what will we see in Series 4 -- Sherlock and John back in school?

 

[T.o.b.y]

I very, very much doubt it... Although it is a very amusing idea.

[Carol the Dabbler]

There doesn't seem to be any specific information as yet, regarding what sort of training will be required, but judging by what little I know about similar licensing requirements (e.g., it takes only two months to become a polygraph operator over here), I doubt that it would actually be a "back to school" situation -- possibly a few night classes, possibly some internet courses.

 

And by the time Series 4 is likely to air, the licensing program will presumably be fully implemented, meaning that we may have missed whatever Sherlock and John did need to do.  It'll be interesting to see if they at least refer to it.  I doubt that the courses would present any real challenge to either of them, but John might need all his persuasive abilities to cajole Sherlock into finishing.

 

[besleybean]

Please can we spell ' licence' correctly?  This is the noun.

'License' is the verb!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Only if you're British.  We Americans are too stupid to know the difference! 

 

(We spell "color" funny, too.)

 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I'm not sure he will need a license since he has the good will of the Queen, I mean, how else could he have gotten away with being allowed in The Palace without his pants? Mycroft is to supply  his younger brother with what ever equipment he might need when taking a commission for the Crown, so he might have some kind of special license from Buckingham itself.

[besleybean]

Incidentally, i generally prefer American spellings.

But I think it's great to instantly know if something is a noun or a verb.

It's one of the few things the English language actually gets right!

[sherlockandjohn]

In Sherlock's words: "Charming idea".

Though I doubt he'd find this idea charming. Him, in school? Absurd Might have been fun, though.

[Caya]

I think Fox has the right of it - though maybe they'll make an episode of it, who knows? Sherlock'll pout and refuse to abide by those silly regulations, and then there's an important matter of state and Mycroft will conjure forth a special licence, and the matter is settled again .

[Carol the Dabbler]

Or they could make a temporary running gag out of John nagging Sherlock to do his homework. 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I can see it now, Sherlock knowing full well what a blinking red light means, comes to a full stop and just sits there. John glares at him and asks, "What the hell are you doing?"

 

  "I'm waiting for it to turn green, of course."  In a bored monotone.

 

  "SHER-LOCK!"

 

  *evil-grin*

[Pamela]

He does believe he's exempt from silly things like that.  Remember he refused to put on the blue suit to examine the crime scene at the beginning of SiP.  Although in the unaired pilot, he did wear it.  Hmm.

[besleybean]

Again, improvement in the aired version.

[Pamela]

Again, improvement in the aired version.

Yes, that was definitely one of the improvements.

[joanneta1]

Has anybody thought of the poor instructor who gets landed with Sherlock in his class? He would go on a rampage with those distressingly lightning-fast deductions and/or verbally abuse all fellow members of the class for their erroneous conclusions. That instructor would feel like the lan ista in Asterix the Gladiator, who handed in his resignation to go to his father's lace industry!

[Shadow Dweller]

Has anybody thought of the poor instructor who gets landed with Sherlock in his class? He would go on a rampage with those distressingly lightning-fast deductions and/or verbally abuse all fellow members of the class for their erroneous conclusions. That instructor would feel like the lan ista in Asterix the Gladiator, who handed in his resignation to go to his father's lace industry!

You just voiced what is in my mind. Talk about students who make instructors looks silly! :D

[Carol the Dabbler]

Even so, Sherlock would probably be missing the point a good deal of the time.  I've never been a PI, so I can't give a truly relevant example, but when I was teaching my math class why and how the usual methods of addition and subtraction actually work, their homework was to add, for example, 347 + 512 like this: 3x100 + 4x10 + 7 + 5x100 + 1x10 + 2 = (3 + 5)x100 + (4 + 1)x10 + (7 + 2) = 8x100 + 5x10 + 9 = 800 + 50 + 9 = 859.  A number of them found this tedious, and asked why they couldn't just do it "the right way."  So I had to explain that the actual point of the exercise was not to find the sum, it was to understand the method.

 

I suspect that Sherlock would have been horribly impatient with that -- especially if he's one of those people who can just glance at the figures and instantly "know" the answer.

 

[Arcadia]

Even so, Sherlock would probably be missing the point a good deal of the time.  I've never been a PI, so I can't give a truly relevant example, but when I was teaching my math class why and how the usual methods of addition and subtraction actually work, their homework was to add, for example, 347 + 512 like this: 3x100 + 4x10 + 7 + 5x100 + 1x10 + 2 = (3 + 5)x100 + (4 + 1)x10 + (7 + 2) = 8x100 + 5x10 + 9 = 800 + 50 + 9 = 859.  A number of them found this tedious, and asked why they couldn't just do it "the right way."  So I had to explain that the actual point of the exercise was not to find the sum, it was to understand the method.

 

I suspect that Sherlock would have been horribly impatient with that -- especially if he's one of those people who can just glance at the figures and instantly "know" the answer.

 

Sherlock's not the only one who'd be horribly impatient with that!  (It's not impressionistic enough!)

[J.P.]

Or they could make a temporary running gag out of John nagging Sherlock to do his homework. 

 

Or Sherlock manipulating John to do his homework.  :P

[sfmpco]

Or the instructor getting so frustrated with Sherlock's constant interruptions that he says, "Perhaps you would like to teach the class yourself, Mr. Holmes!"  At which point Sherlock would get up and begin to teach the class.  Yes, that probably happened a few times in his academic years too.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Or the instructor getting so frustrated with Sherlock's constant interruptions that he says, "Perhaps you would like to teach the class yourself, Mr. Holmes!" At which point Sherlock would get up and begin to teach the class. Yes, that probably happened a few times in his academic years too.

My hubby ended up doing that once in high school and impressed the teacher in the process.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Here's an update on the current PI-licensing situation in the UK:
 

Further Update on UK Licensing

Although it may seem that implementing licensing for investigation had again been dropped from the agenda, the ABI was last week reassured that the Government’s position on PI licensing remains unchanged, that it is still committed to introduce licensing for our industry “as soon as possible”.
 
It appears that some of the issues still to be considered, which continue to be the cause of delays are “defining the exemptions”,  that is who should be licensed and who need not, and “whether to introduce Business Licensing” ( for all sectors ).  Both these issues will however require primary legislation and it therefore makes sense that both be done at the same time.
 
Even after taking the above points on board, it is planned to review the whole package of licensing the security industry, as we saw in the article we reproduced two weeks ago by the new SIA Chief Executive Alan Clamp.  The review has been announced to Parliament and is expected in a couple of months’ time.  When it is published there will be open consultation.  After the consultation period there will be a further period before the Home Office reports on the findings. 
 
The Association does not expect any change before the end of 2016 but the Governing Council will maintain liaison with the Home Office and continue to report on any developments.

 
 
So the official position seems to be any year now....

[sfmpco]

Although semantics might get him around it with his "consultant" title.  At any rate, I doubt the licensing issue will ever figure into a story line.  

[Arcadia]

Although come to think of it, that's the kind of plot would that would fit nicely with the concept of "updating Sherlock to modern times", and could make a pretty funny side joke. In the meantime I think we can assume Mycroft has taken care of the legalities.... :p

[sfmpco]

Mycroft somehow takes care of everything.